The bluEPrint by Executive Platforms Executive Platforms

At the 2023 edition of the North American Supply Chain Executive Summit series we sat down with Alex Kahsar of ifm Supply Chain to talk about one of the biggest issues supply chain leaders are struggling with right now: Something has happened to forecasting and S&OP accuracy in the post-pandemic business landscape. The tried, tested, and true best practices built up over years are not producing numbers that can be relied upon. How can any company do its best work building upon a fuzzy foundation? At the end of the day, Sales and Operational Planning and Sales and Operational Execution can only work with the numbers they are given, and too often either demand is not being met and money is being left on the table, or too much supply is being carried as inventory. Fortunately, technology and subject matter experts are keeping on top of the changing business realities, and there is a real opportunity for supply chain organizations to upgrade, retool, and rebuild their forecasting capabilities to create numbers that can be acted on with confidence. Give this episode a listen!

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ifm Supply Chain delivers SAP integrated supply chain planning software that enables more accurate demand forecasting, proactive risk management, and efficient order processing. Our solutions help you make quick and smart supply chain planning decisions within SAP – from forecast to fulfillment. Our solutions include: Forecasting and Demand Planning, Inventory Optimization, Sourcing and Procurement, and Production Planning. Visit our website to learn more.

www.ifmsupplychain.com

At the 2023 edition of the North American Sustainability & Responsibility Summit series we sat down with Nick Balster, the SVP of Operations for Dalkia Energy Solutions, EDF Group, to talk about reducing the carbon impact of companies’ global footprint, especially as it related to existing infrastructure.
 
Any conversation about improving Sustainability has to acknowledge most of the underpinnings of today’s economy we put in place before environmental performance was viewed as anything more than a nice-to-have. There are enormous opportunities to reduce impacts by taking an informed approach to looking around the facilities and other infrastructure your organization uses and identifying opportunities to eliminate waste. Many of these opportunities are inexpensive, and the savings they would generate not only pay for themselves, but can also go towards funding other improvements that may sound capital intensive at first, but will actually create a snowballing effect of savings paying for further savings, all of which is also paying immediate dividends into dramatically improved EHS metrics. To learn more and hear how this can apply to you and your operations, give this episode a listen!
 
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Dalkia Energy Solutions, EDF Group provides comprehensive energy solutions for municipal, commercial, industrial, and institutional customers within the United States. We design, install, finance and maintain efficiency upgrade projects across the US, helping our customers save money while positively helping them reach their greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals.
 
Our applications include street lighting, building controls, compressed air, HVAC, LED lighting, refrigeration and steam systems, and the management of utility financial incentives that reduce capital investment requirements. Dalkia brings our customers on-site generation with combined heat and power from our Dalkia affiliate, Dalkia Aegis, solar and storage solutions from EDF Renewables and electricity, and gas and load management services from EDF Energy Services.
 
Dalkia has evolved through applying its skills, know-how and the advancing energy technologies to continuously provide reliable, cost-effective solutions to resource and sustainability challenges. We’ve also collaborated with a wide array of other energy companies, building an extensive international network of partners with complementary areas of expertise--all of which adds up to unmatched solutions delivered to our customers.

For this special episode of Executive Platforms' bluEPrint Podcast series we had some of the top speakers from the 2023 edition of the long-running and successful North American Supply Chain Executive Summit series sit down and speak to the challenges and opportunities submitted by attendees of the event as they filled out their delegate profiles, weighted by popularity.  
With topics ranging from Digital Transformation and AI, to Forecasting and S&OP, to Procurement, Inventory, Talent, Labor, and more this wide-ranging conversation will see four senior supply chain executives from four very different companies speaking to the issues, ideas, innovations, and inspirations that matter to all of them as prompted by their peers. It is a fantastic deep dive into what is most relevant to supply chain organizations today. Give it a listen!


Our roundtable panelists are...

Greg Javor
SVP | Global Supply Chain Operations at Mattel, Inc
Greg is responsible for all physical goods movement, information flows, and logistics procurement activities that contribute to Mattel’s purpose of creating innovative products that inspire, entertain, and develop children through play.
He oversees the overall business management of Mattel’s logistics, distribution, transportation, and logistics procurement activities worldwide. This work includes the operation of Mattel’s global network of 38 Regional Distribution Centers, 6 DTC Distribution Centers, Asia Logistics operations, 2 Consolidated Cross Dock Centers, and a Global Transportation network executing over 12 million customer deliveries across all channels and brands.
Greg and his team work to ensure the global logistics network is dynamic and responsive to rapidly changing market conditions including bringing new products to market with competitive advantage.


Katie Holman
VP Supply Chain, Meals, and Baking Solutions at General Mills 
Katie Holman is Vice President of Supply Chain at General Mills.  She leads and oversees the supply chain for the $4B+ Meals and Baking Operating Unit.  She partners with business leaders and stakeholders to drive value across planning, manufacturing, sourcing, and logistics.  Prior to this, she was the Chief of Staff to the CSCO and Director of Business Performance Management.  She has held several end-end supply chain roles, including the Director of Supply Chain for the General Mills Global India Center in Mumbai, India where she established a Global Planning COE.  She has held various leadership positions in Manufacturing, Engineering, and Continuous Improvement at General Mills.  Katie began her career at Anheuser-Busch InBev, where she held roles of increasing responsibility in Operations, Maintenance, and Engineering.  She received her MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and her BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Virginia.


Fernando Hernandez
VP Supplier Performance at The Boeing Company 
Fernando Hernandez is vice president of Supplier Performance for Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) in the Global Supply Chain and Integration organization.  Named to this position in April 2023, Fernando leads a multi-disciplined organization responsible for proactively managing the quality and health BDS’s global network of suppliers.  He is responsible for ensuring supplier adherence to delivering the highest quality products and services to BDS customers in compliance with customer requirements and Boeing’s rigorous Quality Management System. As part of this role, Fernando oversees policymaking, advanced quality planning, supplier surveillance and performance, source inspection and ongoing continuous improvement efforts across the supply chai

At the 2023 edition of the European Supply Chain Executive Summit series held in Barcelona, Spain, June 19-21, we sat down with Chris Cutshaw of TMC, a division of C.H. Robinson, to speak about Generative AI, one of the most powerful new tools supply chain leaders are bringing online. Chris had given a presentation earlier at the event entitled, "New Role of Generative AI in Achieving Supply Chain Orchestration: Featuring Microsoft’s Next Generation Journey" that used real-world examples from an early-adapting industry leader to demonstrate what is possible. In this interview we discuss some of the key takeaways from that workshop, and a general overview of what senior executives should be thinking about and learning about as they work to build this new technology into their existing supply chain organization. Give this one a listen!


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As director of market solutions, Chris Cutshaw is responsible for leading the commercial and technology strategy for the Managed Services division at C.H. Robinson. His role includes identifying market solutions, setting commercial strategy, and aligning supporting technologies and global processes to drive growth, and deliver on TMC’s mission for connecting, automating, and optimizing the world’s supply chains. Prior to his current role, Chris was the Global Account Manager overseeing the TMC relationship with Microsoft and was a member of the global implementation team. 

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C.H. Robinson solves logistics problems for companies across the globe and across industries, from the simple to the most complex. Our single, global multimodal transportation management system, Navisphere, connects our entire network of 200K companies to provide customers with greater supply chain efficiency, real-time insights, and visibility. Through our TMC division, we combine global TMS technology with a full suite of logistics managed services and consulting to help shippers optimize and automate their supply chain across all modes and regions.
mytmc.com

Please note: We are aware of an issue with the audio version of this podcast episode. We are working to correct it. In the meantime, here is a link to the YouTube version with working sound. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Last month at North American Food Safety & Quality 2023 we sat down with Deepa Thakar, a Key Accounts Manager of Neogen Analytics, to talk about what the Digital Revolution is bringing to FSQ professionals, and why it is more important than ever to automate repetitive analog tasks and give Food Safety experts insights in real-time into where best to apply their energies and expertise. Whether we are talking about visibility and transparency and compliance, or doing more and better work in the same amount of time, or achieving more without increasing headcount, digitization is the way forward to improving FSQ performance and also keeping the public safe. Give this one a listen!

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Neogen Analytics is the only unified workflow, analytics, and data management solution available today for food safety, quality, and sanitation. Neogen Analytics tracks and unifies the workflow and data generated within your environmental monitoring, product testing, and sanitation programs to improve quality and decrease risk while streamlining operations.


Keep informed of the performance, risk and mitigation information needed, on-demand. When data related to the safety and quality performance changes, Neogen Analytics auto-alerts allow actions to be taken immediately.


Automate testing, sanitation, and compliance workflows to assign the right corrective actions every time. Neogen Analytics eliminates time-consuming manual data entry and errors, and reduces risk associated with delays and lab communications.


Get the data needed for audits and inspections quickly with only a few clicks. Ensure compliance with FDA, USDA, CFIA and internal policies at-a-glance. Administer policies and ensure compliance consistently across all operations and locations. www.neogen.com/neogen-analytics

At the 2023 edition of the North American Supply Chain Executive Summit series we sat down with Derek Bealby, a Vice President of AFMS, LLC about how supply chain leaders can work with their partners to control shipping costs in a world of inflation, rising labor costs, rising fuel costs, and frequent disruptions. Many 3PLs are under intense pressure to pass their costs on to their customers, and negotiating contracts can be a complicated business. How should supply chain executives best approach this situation with both long-term business partners, and also new shippers as they optimize their footprint and build build resiliency into their operations? Where can they get the information they need to have the right conversations the right way? Listen to this interview for more.
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For 30 years AFMS has helped over 3,000 companies reduce their shipping costs by 15-25%. Specializing in transportation benchmarking, carrier contract negotiations, full RFP and RFQ support for carrier optimization & invoice auditing, for all modes of transportation. Our expert team of former carrier pricing executives and strategists from UPS, FedEx, DHL, USPS, Hyundai, US lines, Panalpina, Topocean and the major LTL carriers has over 500 years of combined industry experience. AFMS will provide a NO Charge full shipping analysis and profile of where you stand in the market today.
www.afms.com